Sick Days
by Hugs6
Summary: Zay Babineaux might be having a bit of a harder time adjusting to New York and New Lucas then he lets on.
1. Friendship or Friendless

**Prompted by the episodes where Zay just doesn't show up (more often than not he does in school episodes, but still) and most importantly, him not being around for rules, here is the story, Sick days**

* * *

 **Chapter 1- Friendship/friendless**

Zay rarely got sick. He hadn't had a stomach bug or a cold in years. His mother did not know that. That's because Zay faked like the best of them. He hated school and always faked whenever possible. He'd thought it would get easier when he went to school with Lucas again. The year without had been empty and depressing. He'd gotten picked on with no one to bail him out. He'd been lonely and sat alone in the cafeteria. Lucas had never been the sit alone in the cafeteria kind of kid, but Zay had never been the make friends kind of kid. His mouth what was got him in trouble the most. It was really just easier to stay home and pretend to be sick. It should have been easier back in school with Lucas.

But it wasn't. There they were same school. Same grade. Same Classroom. And he didn't even mind that Old Lucas had turned into good Lucas. Good Lucas was fine. But... They'd been best friends. How could all of that just be thrown away in a year? How could Lucas find a new best friend that fast when Zay hadn't even thought to look? Why was that Farkle kid better than him?

So he stayed home from school. He lay in bed and moped around. He sighed and thought and wished and wondered if life had been better in Texas without Lucas than here with Lucas hardly even there. Lucas had new friends and a new life and he practically already had a girlfriend. There wouldn't really be a reason to want him around. There wasn't a reason at all actually. Why would Lucas, new straight and narrow Lucas, want to hang around a guy who would only get him in trouble? Lucas wasn't really his best friend anymore. That hurt. It was easy to pretend you're sick when you're pulling from the hurt of losing your best friend. Its simply easier to stay home than face that hurt.

It got boring though. He'd spend hours throwing a tennis ball that he'd found in the house when they moved at the wall. Sometimes he did angrily, mad at Lucas for replacing him without even an email or text his way. Other times he'd just be bored, wishing he was in school but not able to drag himself there and face his utter depressing lack of friends. Lucas' friends were nice, but Zay never felt he fit. He'd sit around and doodle boredly and wish that Lucas was around.

One day he kind of got that wish. School had finished for the day and he was just lying around throwing the ball up and down. Someone knocked on the door.

"Yeah?" Zay asked, trying to sound sick in case it was his mom or their neighbor.

"Can I come in? Its Lucas."

"Of course its Lucas who else sounds like you? Yeah you can come in." Lucas Friar attempted to open the door.

"Zay its locked." Oh yeah... He'd locked it. He'd do that sometimes when he didn't want to be interrupted by anyone. Zay got up and put on his I'm sick face. He unlocked the door.

"What brings you to my humble abode?" Zay asked sarcastically.

"Homework."

"Great." He sighed.

"Are you okay Zay? You've been missing a lot of days. Is something going on? Are you bad sick or something? Because you know you can tell me."

"No no, I'm fine. I think I'm just uh, adjusting to the new environment. Texas is a lot different."

"Believe me, I know." Lucas studied Zay for a few moments.

"Are you faking it again? You used to do it all the time... Please tell me you're not pretending to be sick. There's no reason to. John Quincy Adams is a good school."

"I know. I like it." He lied.

"If you're faking it... Don't. There's nothing to be afraid of. And I think you'll make a lot more friends here." Zay wanted to laugh. He didn't make friends ANYWHERE. He'd barely forced himself into Lucas' life in the first place. Had they ever even really been friends? That was enough to be afraid of.

"I should be well enough to come tomorrow."

"Good. We're almost in high school. Shame if you had to miss out because you were stuck in eighth grade for taking too many sick days." Lucas left. Zay sat down at his desk and tried to do his homework, distracted by his thoughts of whether or not he really ever had had friends.

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 **For those of you who read Farkle Thoughts, tell me if you think this could be potentially as good.**


	2. I know things

**Based before the episode The Tell Tale Tot explaining Zay's bit in the episode**

* * *

 **Chapter 2- I know things.**

"Mr. Babineaux?" Their teacher had asked as Zay was gathering up his things to leave. It always felt like Mr. Matthews' class was the longest and that Mr. Matthews' was probably the most important guy at their school because he seemed to have so much control. Lucas had told of how Mr. Matthews' had made them do a project where they had to give their phones up and communicate, and he let students leave without any of the other faculty getting on him for it. How did he do that?

"I'm not in trouble." He said instantly, a self defense mechanism that came without thought.

"I've been noticing you've been turning in your homework on time."

"You can't get me in trouble for that!" Zay said quickly.

"No no I'm glad. You seem to want to be learning which isn't what I saw the first few days you were here." Zay sighed in relief. It wasn't so much that he wanted to be learning but there was this strange irrepressible desire to be better than Farkle Minkus. Could anyone blame him? The little twerp had taken his place as Lucas' best friend. Zay had convinced himself if he was a little smarter maybe Lucas would want to be his best friend again.

"I've noticed other things too. You seem a bit competitive."

"I'm not competitive. I'm not good enough at anything to be competitive."

"You seem to want to compete with Farkle, that true?"

"No." He lied.

"In a few days we're going to be talking about the book The tell-tale heart. Its by Edgar Allen Poe. You could read ahead if you want."

"I don't really like reading."

"Its short. Think about it."

* * *

He found himself faking another sick day. It was getting downright boring. He would have much rather been in school. Except he didn't want to face Lucas and Lucas' best friends. He was just tired of seeing how close Lucas had become with other people. It was selfish of him but he really felt like things would never be the same and that bothered him a lot.

He'd run out of things to do around the house, and he had done everything, from making a super complicated recipe on the stove to washing all the dishes from that failed mishap to even digging up some of his old childhood cartoon dvds and watching those. With nothing else to do he found himself on google boredly messing around. Without even realizing it he googled The Tell-tale heart. He stared at it for awhile, savoring the idea of being prepared for a class lesson Farkle wouldn't even know about. It would be so easy so great...

He read the story. It was short and enthralling. Maybe some other time he'd read other Edgar Allen Poe stories, but for now this was good enough. He couldn't wait to surprise people with his knowledge of the story. He couldn't wait to show up Farkle.

* * *

 **I would prob be a bit bitter if I felt I was replaced by my bff.**


	3. A stomach in knots

**Why WASN'T Zay in Rules? His rebellious nature would have fit right in.**

* * *

 **Chapter 3-** A stomach in knots

The tennis ball banged against the wall over and over again. There was nothing more boring than the rhythmic thud thud thud of the ball hitting the wall. He glanced again at the clock a bit anxiously. If Lucas was going to visit he should have been there by now.

Of course, Lucas didn't visit every day. Only sometimes did his old best friend think to check on him when he was "sick". The days Lucas didn't come actually did make him feel sick. His stomach would twist up and he'd get sad and scared and his hands would shake so bad he couldn't even throw the ball. It was way too late for Lucas now, he was probably at home eating dinner. Zay's dad would be home soon, his mom was downstairs preparing their own dinner, but with the knot in his stomach he doubted he'd be able to eat it.

The tennis ball rolled out of his shaky fingers, it was ridiculous how sad this made him, and thudded against the door. He didn't have anything else to do, so he went over to go get it, bending down by the door to pick it up. Suddenly the door swung open, hitting him in the head.

"Ow!" He complained, looking up to see who it was. Lucas.

"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be home?" He asked, rubbing his head, which was acquiring a bump.

"I would be except I really wanted to visit you today and my mom said she'd take me, I would have been here earlier but I had detention." Zay laughed out loud.

"You? In Detention? But I thought you'd changed."

"I didn't do anything ridiculous... But everyone else was going to get detention and Mr. Matthews called me Lucas the Good and Maya would have never let me live that down so I HAD to get detention just once."

"What did you do, Lucas the Good?"

"I texted Mr. Matthews that his daughter was looking sexy today." He muttered quietly, a blush consuming his face. Zay laughed.

"So why'd everyone else get detention?"

"Maya led the class in a confiscated items drawer raid when Mr. Matthews wasn't here. I was kind of bummed you weren't there, you would have had a lot of fun. And you would have gotten to see me as Mad Dog. Farkle was Batman. Maya was Maya and..." Lucas frowned a little.

"What?"

"Two things. Riley was good. Riley was perfect. She has so much control, she only ever does anything wrong around Maya and I wish I could be like that. I wish I could actually be good but... You know me."

"I like you, whichever you you are."

"But this me feels fake, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, a little. But they believe in it."

"But you don't."

"What was the second thing, that made you frown?" Zay asked to change the subject.

"Every single second of my little rebellion I kept thinking, man Zay should be here."

"Sorry, I had a stomachache." It was still hard to swallow the knot in his stomach, or to get his hands to stop shaking.

"You're getting sick a lot. Please tell me if you're faking it. You're gonna have to repeat eighth grade if you miss too many days." Zay nodded and sighed.

"I might have faked some of them. But sometimes I end up actually feeling sick anyway."

"Why?"

'Because I'm sad and scared?"

"Why, of what?"

"I'm sorry I wasn't there today and I'm sorry you had to miss me." I miss you, a lot, he thought to himself.

"What are you scared of?" Lucas asked.

"You should go. I need some rest. I have a headache now since you hit me with a door."

"Sorry about that. Bye Zay. We'll talk more later."

"Yeah okay, Bye Lucas. See you tomorrow. At school."


	4. Remember when?

**"yeah I read it I read it actually a lot."**

* * *

 **Chapter 4-** Remember when?

Zay was actually legitimately sick. He had a 104 fever and hadn't moved out of bed all day. He was in and out of hazy sleepy dazes, half asleep and drowning in sweat. every now and then his mom would come and check on him. He didn't really pay attention to anything. There was no thud of the tennis ball. There was no reading or thinking or worrying. He didn't even remember Lucas until he came and knocked on the door.

"Zay? I know you're really sick. Can I come in?" Zay moaned. The door swung open. Lucas came in looking really worried. Zay didn't say anything. Lucas came over.

"I know you're too sick to do homework... But I thought you might like this assignment. Remember when we used to hole up in my room and read comics all the time? Remember how we had a favorite?" Zay stared at him for a second trying to register his words. He nodded.

"We've got this new English teacher. Surprisingly enough she's actually cool. Leather jacket, motorcycle, stood up to the principal, Ms. Luther from sixth grade would have NEVER done that..." Zay moaned to show he was still paying attention.

"She gave us a comic book to read. Batman Vs. Superman. Dude we used to read this! We used to wear our batman and superman shirts and play with the action figures and read it over and over trying to te the ending to be different... Remember?" Weak nod.

"Am I keeping you from sleeping? Should I go? Dude I'm sorry You're sick I should be more considerate..." Zay turned to look at his friend. He was overjoyed that his best friend had come to see him. He saw the comic book in Lucas' hand. He felt awful and really wanted to sleep but there was something deep inside of him that wanted, longed to hang out with his friend, even if he was sick. Like really really sick. Like he wanted to throw up right now. But he managed to not throw up and said in a moan,

"read it..." Lucas' face lit up with a smile and he settled in on a box, one of the few moving boxes still unpacked, winter clothes he thought, and flipped the comic open. He started reading. When Lucas read out loud he put expression into his words, especially if it was a story he loved. As he read his voice got excited and went fast. Zay felt as if they were in Lucas' bedroom again playing with action figures. His batman action figure sat on a shelf nearby and he turned to look at it. Lucas had the Superman action figure. No one else knew about it. It was their thing. Lucas kept reading and he was getting more and more into it.

Zay couldn't help but smile. This was their thing.

The comic came to a close. Lucas and Zay were both grinning.

"I hope you feel better soon Zay."

"Thanks..." He mumbled, thanking Lucas for everything. It had been one of the best days of his life since he'd moved here.

And then he went to go puke as soon as Lucas left.


	5. Most likely to

**I think Yearbook was the best episode of Girl Meets World so far.**

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 **Chapter 5-** Most Likely to

He'd overslept. He'd fully intended attending John Quincy Adams Middle School that morning he'd simply overslept. So he'd stayed home. He'd stayed up late catching up on homework and it was nearly eleven when he awoke. There was no point in going in to school now. He texted Lucas right away to tell him why he wasn't in school. He didn't want his friend thinking he was faking it again. He hadn't planned on it. The day before he'd had a dentist appointment in the morning so he'd missed part of the day, but he hadn't planned on missing any of today.

His alarm clock was broken, apparently. He didn't know when or why it was broken, but it was broken. He tried to fix it in his down time, but that only succeeded in making things worse. He was far too talented at making things worse. He'd done it with Lucas' life. Now he was doing it with the life of his poor, malfunctioning alarm clock. He was sitting, staring at the alarm clock that was in shambles on his desk and munching thoughtfully on some weird healthy potato chip his mom had bought when he heard a sound that was suspiciously identical to his doorbell. He glanced at his clock before remembering he'd dismantled it. It must have been after school had ended, but Lucas wouldn't have rung the doorbell, Lucas knew where the key was. Zay glanced at his clothes, deemed them good enough for company whoever it was, and ran downstairs. He swung the door open and was shocked.

"Farkle?" He asked, gaping. Two things surprised him about his visitor: 1. It was FARKLE the guy who had "stolen" his best friend. 2. It... It didn't look like Farkle. Darker clothes, cooler clothes. And a beanie. He'd only been gone 1 day!

"What is this?"

"I brought you your yearbook. You're most likely to miss school." Farkle offered an apologetic smile.

"Why're you dressed like this?"

"I'm figuring out who I am."

"Is it working? Because I could use some figuring out myself." Zay admitted.

"Not yet but I'm working on it. Its never as easy as you want it to be."

"You're smart. I'm sure you'll figure it out. I probably never will."

"Of course you will. You're confident."

"You're not?'

"Not always... I changed my look because I was tired of being mocked for my personality and name. This isn't the first time! I get insecure and I try to change myself."

"I get insecure and I run my mouth. I get in trouble and when I get in trouble I get Lucas to bail me out. Who am I other than that?"

"So we're insecure but we're working on it. I bet we can help each other. Here's your yearbook." Zay flipped through it.

"Most likely to be Farkle? Cool..."

"You think its cool?"

"You're smart thats cool." Farkle smiled a little.

"thanks."

"No problem, thanks for bringing my yearbook."

"You're welcome. I need to go my mom's waiting in the car. See you tomorrow?"

"Yeah, I'll be there."


End file.
